1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle diagnosing apparatus which diagnoses a vehicle, such as a motor vehicle. The vehicle diagnosing apparatus is connected to an electronic control unit which is mounted on the vehicle. The diagnosing is performed by incorporating the data from various sensors.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this kind of vehicle diagnosing apparatus, there has hitherto been known the following. Namely, data incorporated (or received) from an electronic control unit are processed according to a predetermined diagnosing program. Those results of judgement such as "OK" (acceptable) or "NG" (not acceptable) on judging items which are obtained by the processing are indicated or displayed on a display screen, on a piece of paper, or the like.
Further, there is also known the following apparatus in the Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 76723/1995. Namely, trouble data which are received from the electronic control unit while the vehicle is in trouble are indicated after converting them into trouble codes. Identification marks (abbreviations of sensors, or the like) corresponding to the trouble codes are also indicated to thereby locate or specify the position of the trouble, or the contents of the trouble.
The time required for diagnosing the vehicle varies from vehicle to vehicle. Therefore, in case the diagnosing of the vehicle is performed as a step of vehicle inspection works, a tact time is set in anticipating the possibility of requiring a long time for diagnosing. However, if the variations in the diagnosing time are large, there will be a spare (or superfluous) time in the diagnosing of most of the vehicles, which situation is not acceptable. As a solution, an effort is being made by locating and improving the cause for having taken up a particularly long time. The variations in the diagnosing time are thus minimized to shorten the diagnosing time.
However, in the former of the conventional diagnosing apparatuses as explained in the description of the related art, only the diagnosing results are indicated. Therefore, in order to specify the cause for the prolonged diagnosing time, it becomes necessary to analyze, at a later time, the data that have been incorporated into the diagnosing apparatus, with the result that the cause cannot be specified quickly.
Further, in the latter of the conventional diagnosing apparatuses as explained in the description of the related art, the trouble codes and the identification marks are indicated. However, these data are for the purpose of locating the position and the contents of the trouble. Therefore, in order to specify the cause for the elongated diagnosing time, it is also necessary to analyze the data at a later time.
In view of the above-described problems, the present invention has an object of providing a vehicle diagnosing apparatus in which the cause for the prolonged diagnosing time can be recognized on a real time basis.